THE GATE KEEPER

by JULES GABRIEL

  ‘Do not come any closer…; just… pretend that I’m not here!’ He said in a frail and quite loud, but at an exhaustive tone.

  It seems I was expected. ‘Your face looked familiar.’ I said trying to figure a match for his face.

  ‘Indeed it does.’ The frail man said.

  ‘We’ve met this morning at your place. You saw me by the window. I believe the answers are…’ he pauses and carries on, ‘…. in the letter which I led you to it this morning.’

  I look at him and realised that he was the old man I saw this morning. He slowly and frailly stands on his feet by using his hands to help him crawl upright.

  ‘I believe it’s in the back of your back pack.’ He said as he slowly moves towards me.

  ‘Please do not mind me as they are coming for you. Save yourself!’ He said aloud in a worrying tone.

  Confusion was for certain. How did he know that there was a gang coming for me? How did he know where I’ve place the letter I received from the mail box this morning? I have no option but to try and eliminate the first problem. He was right, it was only now that I realise that they were coming for me but I could not hear them.

  I turn around and see Tony cycling fast towards me. Stealthily with uncontrollable speed he went through the bumpy path and behind him his gang follows. I slowly move backward and prepares for the outcome.

  7

  Tony jump off the moving bicycle and quickly head towards me. I step aside and Tony’s bicycle went pass by, off the dead end of the plateau. At the corner of my eye I could see him lunge a powerful punch to my face. I have to move into another side step while I seize his wrist.

  Immediately I move Tony in the same momentum his body was heading for. This allows his body to pick up more speed while I easily twist his wrist into three hundred and sixty degrees. Tony’s body went off the ground by the momentum of his own body force and applied technique. He found himself moving with the same angle his wrist got diverted. After a quick outburst of cry, he fell down and lay motionless on the ground.

  His face demonstrates the agony and the emotion of confusion he was in. Joey aggressively flings a right hook in my face as he dashed towards me. Automatically my hands went up at a ninety degree angle guarding my face. The block fully absorbs the blow while injuring his fingers.

  From there I knew that joey must have been an inexperience fighter. A good punch does not crack. I immediately step outside his arc of fire. Allowing my opponent to move in the same direction he was heading. Then deliver two powerful kicks at the left side of Joey’s rib cage. He went down on the ground falling on his side. He holds it as he curls in agony.

  Ryan, Allan and Harley were there in time to see their friends and leader on the ground. They made an obtrusive semi-circle while they simultaneously glance at Tony, Joey and me. The teenagers nervously move back and forth as if waiting for an order to attack.

  ‘What…What are we waiting for?’ Allan asked nervously.

  ‘Yes, what are we waiting for?’ Ryan also asked nervously.

  ‘Fools, we’re three and he’s out number?!’ Harley responded with some confidence while trying to boost morals of his friends.

  ‘Why don’t you go first?’ Ryan said still nervous.

  ‘Yes, you should be the first one to attack.’ Allan convincingly said.

  ‘No, we attack all together and prevent him to recover until he’s down.’ Harley said. Instantly after the few words of encouragement they charges on me like a pack of hungry wolves.

  ‘Punch him in the head.’ Allan said as he and his friends run towards me.

  Two punches headed for my face while one head for my chest. I found myself force to elude the punches by quickly moving backward. Then I immediately made a move to the one closer to my face by seizing it by the wrist. At the same time I made half a turn while I put immense power in pulling the wrist in the same direction it was meant to go.

  Harley’s body picked up an abnormal speed which slightly upset its own momentum. Without delay I release his wrist. At the same time I generate a powerful blow from my open palm to his solar plexus. This immediately changed the course of his fall. The blow in Harley’s pressure point sent him sideways and backwards onto Allen and Ryan. All three end up colliding with each other and collapsing on top of each other.

  At the corner of my eye I could see something dodgy moving. I quickly turn to it as I sense danger. Tony had recovered but he was holding something above his head and he was about to throw it at me. Behind him the old man stood firm and give him a tap with one hand. Tony acknowledge to the old man’s tap by turning his face sideways while he hold the rotten log firmly above his head.

  He seems surprise as if wondering where the old man comes from. The old man unleashes fury by whacking Tony with a full contact blow with his open palm at one side of his ear. The brawny teenager lost his sense of equilibrium and drops the log on his own head. He quickly went down and collapse.

  I move closer to the old man and ask, ‘who are you?’

  ‘Not to close! And an explanation you shall have!’ He said nervously.

  I stop as he has requested and wait for a response from him. He slowly walks to me as he rolls up the left side of his suit.

  He raises his arm up and said, ‘Do you see it.’

  On his arm slightly a few centimetres above his wrist an old stitched scar stretched horizontally towards the edge of the elbow. The closer he walks to me the more apparent and evident it becomes for me. Strange as it was, I notice that the mark of stitches was fading as if it wasn’t there in the first place.

  ‘Magnificent, isn’t it?’ He said as he appreciates the healing process of his skin.

  I was speechless. I stare at the scar as it disappears leaving the proper primary skin unscathed. He rolls his sleeve back down. Then he glances at Tony’s unconscious body. Joey who was still on the ground nearby caught his attention as he moan.

  ‘He’s going to be fine.’

  ‘Yes I know I’m just making sure that they’re not going to disturb us,’ the old man said.

  Ryan, Allan and Harley seem to concern him. He shows interest in them. As if he had sense something wrong. I trace his eyes to them and understand his curiosity. The three were on top of each other but they moan as they struggle to come out of the dizziness and unconsciousness.

  ‘We don’t have much time.’ He said as he turns and walk away from the injured boys.

  He head for the opposite side of the plateau and says, ‘Please follow me. Listen attentively and make sure you don’t touch me.’

  Confuse and in doubt I needed to know the truth, ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Which one did you fail to understand?’

  ‘The reason behind the touching part,’ I seek for reasoning.

  ‘It shall all come into place in a few minutes but you’ve got to stay with me.’

  His back was facing me as he strolls along and gaze at the sun set over the horizon. Glancing over his shoulder to see where I was as I follow. A few metres to the edge of the plateau he comes to a halt. He glances sideways only to keep his face still.

  ‘Does my face look familiar to you?’

  ‘Yes, of course and from this morning.’

  ‘You mean that you’ve live with a face that you haven’t figure out how it shall look like in the future,’ he derisively says.

  What did he mean? Is he crazy? Does he mean it? No it can’t be? My mind fought to come to terms between science fact and science fiction. Is he for real? Who is he really and where did he come from? Or is he a sham.

  ‘What are you trying to tell me?’ I seek for confirmation.

  ‘We’re not dumb,’ he pauses and carries on, ‘What would you do if you had the chance to fix the past and present?’

  ‘I would try to fix some of my past mistakes.’

  ‘If I told you that we’ve manage it. We have accomplished the impossible but it’s in your lifetime in the future. Perhaps I may say in my present.’

&
nbsp; ‘Impossible,’ I curt out in deny. Baffle I defy the truth, how could this be?

  ‘What would you do if I told you that you are talking to yourself at this instant?’ He calmly persuades as he faces the horizon.

  I walk towards him speechless and stare at his face in disbelief, ‘I would say that you’re insane.’

  ‘Insane is the word use by the ancient fools who couldn’t understand and wouldn’t accept progressive thinking. The Catholic church even helped to suppress our thoughts for centuries.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Let me enlighten you a bit,’ he pause to catch his breath. ‘Have you ever heard the term scientific revolution?’

  ‘Yes, I have.’

  ‘So what do you understand by it.’

  ‘It goes way back somewhere in the seventeenth century when it came to an end.’

  ‘Partially correct,’ he pauses and carries on, ‘…from what I have gathered, it is made of the aspect of facts from a time of renaissance, the age of enlightenment and the age of reflection.’

  ‘I’m lost but, what do those events have to do with our meeting today?’

  ‘Patience, for it all shall fall into place. To be convinced and accept the fact, one must understand the factual concept ahead of your actual time. May I please move on with my story?’

  ‘Yes, please do.’

  ‘Renaissance has to do with Leonard Da Vinci who was fascinated by flying. The age of enlightenment promote science and intellectual.’ He pauses, look at me for a while and slowly move a few steps away from me making sure that I was far enough.

  ‘Satisfy with the distance.’

  ‘Yes I am indeed, it’s for our safety. I shall get to it later.’

  Gap of two metres was kept between both of us. Doubt clouded my mind as I wonder about the real reason behind the distance we must keep apart. I had no alternatives but to come to terms with the baseless ideology of a pathetic lunatic.

  Some of his words made sense from the garbage he had spit out. A part of me wanted to leave the crazy man alone. My curiosity beg my other half to stay and listen to what he was about to say. After all maybe he might make some sense out of the science fiction.

  ‘Please can you get to the point?’

  I wanted to believe in him but there was no hard evidence to support his fact… Maybe he had something in the end, something small and futuristic...

  I wanted him to stop beating round the bush...

  Patience he had told me….

  Maybe he was saving the best for last and perhaps it was worth waiting for….patience.

  ‘Yes I shall get straight to it. I can see that you’re impatience for the truth but nothing come easy in life as you had already noticed. Anyway back to the cultural movements.’

  ‘The cultural movements are the renaissance, the age of enlightenment and the age of reflection, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, Phil. Now let us take another famous scientist whose work also inspired us. Isaac Newton…’ He paused and asks, ‘do you know which field he developed?’

  ‘Yes, it’s all about gravity and its effect on the orbits of most planets.’

  ‘Indeed you’re partly correct. The mechanics and its gravitational force were what he contributed in physics. It fully came into good use two centuries later after being improved into the three universal laws of motion. This brought the smooth use of the industrial revolution at the start of the twentieth century. Without it we were all doom for headway.’

  It becomes interesting and educational as the story progresses with a mixture of history and science. Eager to understand the concept of the story I didn’t want to miss anything.

  As he took a breather I asks, ‘what movement was he part of?’

  ‘Newton belonged to the age of enlightenment. Lastly the age of reflection also known as romanticism is a combination of important subjects, such as organic chemistry and astronomy. William and Caroline Herschel are the two astronomers who defined the milky ways, also known as the solar system.’

  He takes a breather and carries on, ‘…of course they are all histories but they all are relevant to the top secret project known as black bird. It shall take place thirty years from your time. I and two colleagues had to study those people’s work to materialise the project. It took us ten long years but we finally did it.’

  ‘What was the project?’

  ‘I’m afraid you already know the answer to that question young Phil.’

  I had assimilated everything that he had told me but I wanted to hear it from him. The study of famous and vital ideologies that goes centuries’ back in time. Astronomy, the universe, organic chemistry, flights, gravitational and mechanical advances, all was a perfect ingredient for a perfect space ship.

  ‘A space machine of some sort which can travel very fast,’ I said uncertainly.

  ‘We simply call it the time machine. The army call it operation black bird.’

  The frail, old man said, then he exhale and inhale slowly.

  ‘Who are you really?’

  ‘Let me tell you about me. I was young and in love with a girl which I had gone to school with. The first time I laid my eyes on her was at crèche. Though I was a child I had never seen anything as beautiful as her. She sat in a circle with a group of other kids outside the school’s playground. I was passing by and playing with some other kids but somehow could not resist by not staring at her.’

  He pauses and took a slow breather. The story seems similar to mine. Who are you? Patience he had said…

  ‘She pretended to be a dentist and her friends became her friendly patients. Those of her friends who had wobbly milk teeth she took it out with a piece of thread. As we grew up and went to primary school I fought my way to sit near her. I became rude to other boys who sat near her. Yet the pet love I had for her was pure and innocent. Inside the feelings which I could not yet comprehend built up and become stronger as we grew up. Then at fourteen I could not hold it in.’

  He watches over the horizon as if I wasn’t there. As if his mind was trap within the memories which brought back lost erstwhile feelings. Emotions that should had been left buried. Deep down I felt an undeniable misery and sadness.

  ‘Then what happened?’ I asked as I demand for a conclusion.

  ‘Yes,’ he faces me as if his mind was far away. And his eyes turn watery.

  ‘Please carry on.’

  ‘Sorry, the feelings, it all seems like yesterday.’ Tears rolled down on his cheek.

  The feeling was mutual but I took my mind off the memories. A connection could be felt as his story was definitely similar to mine, except that I had not mention it to anybody. I needed to hear the ending.

  ‘Like I said I took a wrong turn after consulting with one of my childhood friend, about the one I had a childish crush on. I phone her, told her how I felt for her and she promised to give me an answer two days later, which was on the following Monday.’

  He pauses but I was willing to hear the rest. ‘Please, what happened next?’

  ‘Phil, you already know what comes next.’

  ‘I would like to hear it from you.’

  ‘Well the love I’ve nurtured from childhood to my early teen was extinguished the day she humiliate me in front of the class. Broken hearted and powerless she made me aware how fat I was. Under stress, disgrace and shame I had to turn my life upside down after I incorporated changes in my lifestyle, just to boost my self-esteem for real.’

  There was a pause and I had one simple question to confirm my thoughts. I wanted to know. I needed to know. Something at the horizon caught my eyes.

  ‘Who was she?’ I seek for reasoning as we both stares at the horizon which appears to be partly swallowed by abnormal darkness.

  ‘The truth will frighten you.’

  ‘I deserve to hear it from you. Beside, I’m entitled to it after all the unexplained and bizarre circumstances that link back to you.’

  ‘Fair one but the question is, if you are prepa
red to face the truth and look at it straight in the eye?’

  ‘There’s not a doubt why I shouldn’t be.’

  ‘Hai….,’ there was a pause as he cuffed and carries on, ‘Hailey Lace.’

  My mind went into shocking mode. I felt paralysed with fear as I could not understand how he managed to get the fact which I had kept so secret. The embarrassment of my failure and twist turn of my life from an obese child to a fit individual.

  Over the horizon dark cloud grows bigger and partially blocking the sun. Lightening flickers uncontrollably into different direction within and outside the dark cloud. Then two objects appears as the volatile lightening furiously and ferociously attack the dark matter.

  ‘They have found us.’

  ‘Who ….?’

  ‘The gate keeper….’

  Confuse I asked, ‘Who are they?’

  ‘Time’s up Phil. Please escape while you can as it’s not safe for both of us here.’

  Eventually the dark matter decreases in size as the unexplained spot like flying objects move out of it. It travels in extended line as it head towards us. Lightening from the dark and moody cloud hit the two unknown vehicles as it flickers wildly.

  Then the lightening fades as the dark matter agitates and merges at one point over the horizon. In no time it vanishes without any sound of thunder. The orange picturesque scenery came back in view. Except for the flying objects which were left behind to slowly head towards us.

  ‘Go, please. The answers you seek for are in the letter I led you to this morning.’

  ‘Am I dreaming?’ Tony said as he open his eyes and stare at the unknown moving machines which were out of this world.

  ‘You might be,’ I responded joyfully as I ran for my bicycle.

  ‘Guys, guys, wake up.’ Tony said in a low disoriented voice.

  I lift my bicycle from the ground and head for the path. So much unanswered question but yet I had to leave. I pause and turn around only to found the flying machines getting closer. Tony had his back facing me as he lays on the ground trying to figure out the two unknown machines suspends and moving towards the plateau. He turns on his belly and tries to slowly crawl towards his three friends.